Homewood residents protest Dennis Henderson's arrest

Some East End residents spent part of their July 4th holiday rallying outside the city's Zone 5 police station, demanding that charges be dropped against a teacher and that the officer who arrested him be put on leave.

"It's Independence Day, so we want our independence from brutality and harassment from our own police officers. All right? So that's one of the goals," Lucille Prater said. "And another goal is that we don't want to see this man's whole reputation and his ability to provide for his family taken away and ruined."

Dennis Henderson, who teaches at Manchester Academic Charter School, was arrested on June 26 after leaving a community meeting and getting into a dispute with Officer Jonathan Gromek on Kelly Street.

Henderson has said that he and a New Pittsburgh Courier freelance reporter were exchanging contact information outside the site of a Community Empowerment Association meeting when Gromek quickly drove past in his police car and came very close to them. The men shouted out in response, prompting Gromek to turn around and come back to talk to them, and the situation escalated from there.

Henderson remains free while he awaits his preliminary hearing on charges of obstructing traffic, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

The protesters on Thursday said they want the Pittsburgh Police Bureau to put Gromek on administrative leave immediately, pending a complete investigation, and they want the District Attorney's Office to drop Henderson's charges before his court date.

In a statement, the group wrote, "The issue of police misconduct is a pandemic that permeates throughout police departments across the nation, and it is widely known that the majority of racial profiling and police misconduct incidents are targeted towards black males," the group wrote in a statement.

"Locally, residents state that it seems Homewood is being targeted and that the police treat residents with no respect and abuse them instead of protecting them. They act as if they have no fear of facing consequences for their actions, and it's because they do not!"

CHANNEL 4 INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER IS THERE. Reporter: THIS PROTEST WRAPPED UP NEAR ZONE 5 AND IT WRAPPED UP ABOUT HALF AN HOUR AGO. THESE PROTESTERS WANT ACTION TO BE TAKEN. THEY WANT THE OFFICER INVOLVED TO BE PLACED ON ADMINISTRATIVE LEAVE AND THEY WANT ALL CHARGES DROPPED AGAINST A TEACHER. HE THINKS THE FEW CHARGES INCLUDING RESISTING ARREST. HE CALLED OUT THE OFFICER FOR DANGEROUS DRIVING AND THEN ASKED FOR HIS BADGE NUMBER. PROTESTERS SAY THEY WANT JUSTICE ON THIS HOLIDAY. IT'S INDEPENDENCE DAY. OKAY? SO WE WANT OUR INDEPENDENCE FROM BRUTALITY AND HARASSMENT FROM OUR OWN POLICE OFFICERS. THAT'S ONE OF THE GOALS. AND ANOTHER GOAL IS THAT WE DON'T WANT TO SEE THIS MAN'S